Protect kids against harmful cultural practices – Parents charged

Director of Public Education at the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) Nana Yamfoa Amua-Sekyi has urged parents to up their game in parental responsibility and desist from allowing their children partake in harmful cultural practices like child marriage. She further tasked parents to not neglect their children to wander on the streets, thereby putting their lives in danger. The CHRAJ Public Education Director encouraged parents to give their wards the necessary education and take advantage of government’s Free SHS policy to get their wards enrolled. “Standing on the streets is very dangerous. Any careless driver can hit the child; anything can happen so we need to keep our children safe. Now Free Education and SHS, as parents we need to ensure that these children go into these schools because one day it will break the cycle of poverty.’’ She made this appeal at the launch of a two-day sensitization forum for Zongo leaders in the Greater Accra Region. The launch was held at the Muslim Family Counseling Services Youth Centre in Accra under the theme ‘The Dignity of Women and the Girl Child’. The programme is a collaborative effort between CHRAJ and the National Council of Zongo Chiefs in the former’s quest to tackle the increasing rate of early and forced marriages. According to Nana Yamfoa Amua-Sekyi, the outreach programme will be held in six zones in the Greater Accra Region with the aim of empowering participants with relevant human rights knowledge for a better understanding and appreciation of women’s and human rights. Participants will also be equipped with the needed skills for them to serve as agents of change in society. The programme addressed key issues regarding general human rights, children’s rights, parental responsibilities, child neglect and specific cultural practices in Islam such as Early and Forced Marriages (EFM) and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) that infringe on the rights of Muslim women and girls. The Public Relations Officer of the National Council of Zongo Chiefs, Moro Baba Issah, who chaired the launch event, also called on parents and guardians to ensure they are responsible for their children in terms upbringing to curb issues of child neglect. By Josephine Aku Selorm Gator|3news.com|Ghana]]>